Egoist Breakers (Volume I): Prologue: Strange Distortion of Reality

A certain metropolis suspended on massive airborne platforms continues to operate as usual, as another day begins.

The sun scorches the surface with blinding intensity, making the heat unbearable. People move about—each with their own destinations, their own goals, dreams, and ideals—just like in any other ordinary city.

However, in a certain part of this floating city, an anomaly begins to manifest. A large number of people are suddenly dragged into a nucleus that formed out of nowhere.

That nucleus absorbs the crowd and eventually morphs into a grotesque aberration: a human-shaped mass composed of countless heads, arms, and legs. It attempts to move—but cannot.

The flesh of the absorbed victims turns deep red, and from their merged body emerge several levitating figures draped in crimson robes that fall like hanging cloth from their limbs. Chains also burst from their bodies, giving the appearance that they were once bound to some other place.

Their faces remain hidden, obscured entirely beneath the red hood that covers the front of their heads. But their black, disfigured, and unnaturally long arms are fully visible—proving these creatures are anything but human.

These strange beings raise their arms and open their palms to absorb a special kind of energy known in this world as "Egôn."

This type of anomaly has been occurring frequently over the past three weeks. No one knows the cause or reason, but one thing is clear: beings never before seen in this world have started materializing.
Panic erupts. People flee in terror—everyone, that is, except one girl.

She walks calmly against the tide of the stampede, standing out amid the chaos. Her hair is blonde, and she wears a dark green bandana tied around her head. Her outfit is that of a school uniform: black vest, green blouse, and white bermuda shorts.
She raises her right hand in front of her face, unleashing a surge of Egôn. Cracks begin to form across her body and face, and thick bluish vapor escapes as if she were burning alive.

Moments later, she peels her face off like a mask, holding it in her hand.

"Egôn! Manifest—Sylfara!" she shouts, gripping the detached mask.
The mask changes shape, and slowly, a female entity materializes into reality—a levitating woman clad in violet armor, wielding a massive spear with a blade shaped like a battle axe.

The summoned being looks around, confused—until she lays eyes on the girl who summoned her, astonishment clear on her face.

"How... How are you able to command me again?" she asks in disbelief.

The girl says nothing. She touches a portion of Sylfara’s flowing cape, and a weapon nearly identical to the entity’s appears in the girl’s right hand.

The summoned being feels compelled to follow her summoner and joins the battle.
The girl lunges forward with fierce momentum, clashing against the hooded monstrosities. She evades their abnormally long strikes with agile flips and counters their attacks with decisive cuts.

Sylfara, meanwhile, slashes through other enemies with her trademark precision, disintegrating them into harmless energy.
Once the wave of beasts is dealt with, the girl turns her focus to the grotesque mass of human flesh—the core aberration formed by the crowd.

"I-I’ve got to stop this b-before more keep a-appearing!" she stammers, sprinting straight toward it.

Halfway there, she throws her weapon aside. In her right hand, she begins to accumulate the same energy she used earlier. Leaping high, she descends with a crushing punch, driving her arm deep into the red mass.

She struggles violently, as if pulling something out—and indeed, slowly, she yanks out the face of a man.

"S-So it w-was you... huh..." she mutters with a cold glare, still holding the man’s seemingly unconscious face.
But in an instant, the man's eyes snap open, and he grins at her with sinister intent.
"Everything will be mine! Everyone will be mine!" he bellows, laughter echoing unnaturally.

With a burst of fury, the girl pulls the man’s entire body from the mass and hurls him to the ground. She lands firmly, while the man collapses face-down, drenched in a strange and grotesque fluid.
The man wears a full business suit and slowly regains his posture, kneeling as he continues to laugh maniacally.

"Egôn Suppression!" the girl cries, slamming her right palm onto his face—shattering it like a ceramic pot.
A strange energy pulses from the act, breaking the connection between the man and the red mass.

His eyes roll back, and his body begins to dissolve—his matter scattering into the wind, just like the aberrant mass.
Yet, blood remains everywhere the flesh conglomeration once occupied.
With the threat gone, the girl dismisses her summon.

"Egôn—return, Sylfara!" she commands.

Sylfara transforms once more into a mask bearing the girl's face, which she reattaches.
The street where the event took place is deserted now. Those who fled between the pipes and steel structures are long gone. Only a few drone-like security bots hover in the sky, quietly recording everything.

The girl slips her hands into the pockets of her white bermuda shorts and leaves—lost in thought, deeply troubled. She resolved the strange phenomenon alone, as if already familiar with the nature of it.

"I’ve noticed that when someone has an Egôn driven by tyranny or ambition, they become a nucleus and start absorbing those around them. I’ve got to be careful not to get caught up in it… especially in large crowds."

She continues walking, now more mindful of her path, doing her best to avoid the densest groups of people.

What exactly is going on in this place?